The Darien Gap Project

The Darien Gap Project will involve visiting the Colombian choco department which is the least explored region of Colombia due to its notorious past; and lack of attention given to it by the past and present governments. The latest figure on population was around 500,000 people where 82% are from an Afro Caribbean heritage, 12.7% are of Amerindian descent and the remaining 5.2% are of white heritage or mestizos.

About Expedition

Quibdo is the capital of the chocò region where half of the population are said to live and work. The rest are in small communities scattered throughout the region where a majority are on the coast such as Nuqui and surrounding towns of Quibdo. So my main intention of this trip is to travel through Colombia from Jurado to Jaque in Panama documenting my trip on a daily basis. Wholly un-supported where I will be raising awareness for conservation and indigenous communities rights I will be travelling over a number of different landscapes from primary rainforest to high valleys and wetlands. In so-called red zones which are high in illegal activities noticeably narcotrafficking, the areas are controlled by non-governmental groups mainly in the past the FARC group who are now in peace talks with the Colombian government, although this is a great step in the right direction, other groups have snapped up once FARC controlled areas, from them. The area is known for its dangers mainly from the illicit activities people do. I have spoken to a local guy in-country and again he has expressed his concerns for this type of travel in an area not many people know of. The most info I have got from a local guy in Colombia.

The Plan

So my trip will begin from Jurado in Colombia travelling north through the choco department of Colombia. into the Darien Gap which finally leads into Panama and finally the endpoint will be in Jaque I will be following the Pacific coast of Colombia. I aim to make it a wholly solo project and documenting it on a daily basis on my return. I will be providing an educational perspective of a region in that part of the world. The trip as a whole will be around 50 miles in total which covering 3-5 miles a day which would take around 15 days. I will add another 5 days to that to be sure.

The reasoning behind me doing this trip on a personal level as with my others I try and aim to push myself to my very limit, of my capabilities as an explorer. With a larger aim such as raising awareness for a cause such as the indigenous people rights as recently, indigenous communities have been in the news especially for bad news. The tragedy and genocide of the previously uncontacted tribe on the Brazilian and Peruvian border where greedy, selfish, illegal gold miners had violently killed them. As they encroached on their territory. You can read about it here. As well as working with international organisations such as survival and the size of Wales on previous expeditions.

Any Help!

If you would like to help out in anyway you can, I do appreciate it. In the middle of Latin America literally a fiver could help out immensely.